Free ferry service between Oakland and Alameda to begin Wednesday
Beginning next Wednesday, there will be a new way for cyclists and pedestrians to cross the shipping channel from Oakland to Alameda. It's a plan that's been on the books for years, but it's only becoming feasible because of the growth on both sides of the estuary.
In Oakland, there is Jack London Square, with hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues, and access to the downtown, ferries and Amtrak. In Alameda, there is Alameda Landing, with Target, Safeway and other retail stores. On both sides are thousands of new homes and apartments. If they were all connected, it seems like everybody would benefit, but there's something standing in the way: a few hundred yards of the Oakland Estuary.
"It's very frustrating that it can be so close, and yet it's out of reach...forcing you to own a car." said Justin Hu-Nguyen, who co-directs the Mobility Justice effort for Bike East Bay. He thinks it only makes sense to give non-drivers an easy way to get across the channel.
"There's a lot of bikers in Alameda. It's very bikeable, very bike friendly," said Hu-Nguyen. "And downtown's right here, connecting to anything you need to get in and out of the Bay Area."
Currently the only way to walk or bike across that part of the estuary is a 36-inch-wide pathway through the busy Posey Tube. Eddie Hackley, a cyclist from Oakland, says he rarely ever makes the trip over to Alameda because of it.
"Ear piercing...dirty...I can't rub against the wall. And then, when you're running head-on against somebody, you gotta stop and put your bike over. You have to get off your bike to let somebody through," he said. "Look at my bike and me. Look at my handle bars. My handle bars only leave this much room for another bike with bigger handle bars to come through."
As a result, the Posey path is empty most of the day, and lately, so are the streets in Jack London. Jocelyn Figueroa operates the Waterfront Cafe, and says foot traffic has dropped off a lot since the pandemic.
"We're just waiting, you know?" she said. "Because back then, before Covid, we used to be busy. Weekends, Saturday and Sunday, lines out this door. But now, it's not as much as we used to have."
But one simple solution will begin next Wednesday morning. The San Francisco Bay Ferry will begin operating a small bike and pedestrian shuttle between the Alameda Landing and Jack London Square. It will make 37 trips per day, about every half hour-- and will be absolutely free of charge, thanks to some grants from various transportation and business districts.
Emujin Unenbat works in Oakland, and would love to be able to explore what Alameda has to offer.
"It would allow some of them to choose bikes over cars, which would help with traffic in the tube," she said. "And it would just help with a lot of things. It seems like something that we should have put into place years ago."
In fact, they did. A shuttle service was launched back in 2004, but it quickly failed because there wasn't nearly as much development or as many residents in the area as there are today.
"We have a lot of housing, a lot of residents, a lot of commercial activity. And we believe this will make a lot more sense this time around," said Hu-Nguyen.
Ultimately, the long-term goal is to build a bike and foot bridge across the estuary. But that could take another ten years, so for now, the little yellow shuttle will have to bridge the gap - literally.
"It brightened my horizons," he said, staring across at the Alameda side. "Since I'm a cyclist and I like to travel a lot, I just might want to go over there on, what, summer weekends?"
Officials say the shuttle is a two-year pilot program, with the opportunity to grow over time. Woodstock can only handle 34 people and 14 bikes at a time, so ridership could quickly outgrow capacity.
The first ride will depart the Jack London dock at 7 am, Wednesday morning. A link to the full-service schedule can be found here.